Outside the Ice Castle
by lost-in-arendelle
Summary: This is what happens outside the ice castle walls when Anna goes inside to confront her sister about the pesky little problem called eternal winter. Forced to wait on the steps, Olaf puts his love expertise to the test with a shaken, surly Kristoff, who is just starting to realize the depth of his unexpected feelings for Anna.


"...four, five, six, seven…" Olaf kept counting, but Kristoff trailed off after "five." His thoughts were elsewhere. Specifically, inside the ice castle behind them. But it wasn't the castle that he couldn't stop thinking about, even if it was the most amazing thing he'd ever laid eyes on, and the ice was flawless, and the details exceptional, and the staircase so perfectly clear and smooth.

"Do you think Anna expects us to count to one hundred?" Olaf asked. "Or just sixty?"

Kristoff lifted his chin from his hands.

"What?" He glanced from the snowman to the bottom of the staircase. "Sven, don't lick that!" He groaned as his best, but admittedly dim, best friend clomped close to the ice bannister and licked it. "Your tongue will-" Too late. "Get stuck."

"I think sixty," Olaf continued. "Sven?" He wiggled upright and stepped closer to Kristoff, poking him repeatedly on the shoulder with one twiggy hand. "You seem preoccupied."

Kristoff glared down at him.

"My name's-" he stopped and sighed. He didn't really care what Olaf called him anymore. He just wanted to know what was happening to Anna. And that bothered him. Immensely. He didn't want to think about what that could mean. "Do you think she's okay in there?" He scraped a hand over his face. "I mean, what do we really know about Queen Elsa anyway?" He remembered the scared little girl who'd clung to her father when the king brought his daughters to the trolls. And the warning that Grand Pabbie had given her. "What if she's dangerous? What if she hurts Anna?"

He moved to stand up, but paused, feeling Olaf's hand on his arm.

"You really do love her, don't you?" he said, watching Kristoff's face with wide, guileless eyes.

Such an innocent question.

Such a terrifying answer.

"_What?_" Kristoff asked, his voice rising and echoing in the snowy silence. "No. That's not- I'm not- _no_. That's crazy. I just met-" He shut his mouth. Olaf's expression hadn't changed, he kept staring at him with those round eyes. "She's in love with someone else," he muttered and looked away. Finally, a full sentence. He tried another. "I like her. Yes. I like her." He rubbed the back of his neck. "But, I mean, who wouldn't? She's- she's funny, and she's brave- really brave, actually, and that surprised me. And-"

"Pretty?"

Kristoff laughed.

"Gorgeous." He cringed, realizing what he'd said. "That's not- Oh, come on, you've seen her." He threw up his hands. "It's just a fact."

"And you want to protect her?"

"I do." He stared down at his boots. "I _would_," he added quietly, "If I had another chance." He'd do more than that, and he suspected that they both knew it. Something had happened when she jumped into his arms, something wholly unexpected and unprecedented, too. _He hadn't wanted to let go. _It didn't make sense. He didn't have many human friends. He spent most of his time on this side of the fjord, away from the villages and the people, content to be alone with Sven.

But he wasn't content anymore. One day with a plucky princess and he was _changing_. She'd jumped and smiled at him and he'd felt like she'd knocked him across the head instead of landing easily in his arms. She was so small, it amazed him that so much warmth, so much spirit and courage and kindness, so much_ Anna_ could be contained in a body so tiny.

"You're thinking about her," Olaf whispered, sliding closer "aren't you?"

"No." He frowned. "Yes." He lowered his head back to his hands. "She's a _princess_."

"Yeah. So?"

"She's too good for me."

"Yeah. So?"

That earned Olaf a glare.

"She's in love with someone else."

"Yeah. So?"

Kristoff groaned and snatched one of his arms.

"Do you know any other words?"

"Yeah." He hesitated at Kristoff's warning look. "You love her," he said. Kristoff closed his eyes, but that didn't keep the words out. Or the sudden lump in his chest.

"What do _you_ know about love?"

"Love is knowing you would do anything for another person." He felt Olaf's disembodied hand pat his shoulder. "Love is listening and trusting another person, even if her ideas are different from yours. Like how you trusted Anna to know how to stop the winter."

Kristoff swallowed. He never would have thought it before today, but now, he could add a few of his own ideas to that list.

"Love is wanting her to be happy," he said quietly, "even if it means you won't. Love is wanting to hold her and holding back. Love is knowing every one of her expressions, because you can't look away. Love is wanting to make her laugh. Love is-" He took a ragged breath. His eyes felt suspiciously hot. "Here-" he shoved Olaf's arm back on his body, unable to escape the pitying look on his face.

"Sven," Olaf said happily, "you love her. It's good! Love is good! You just have to believe in it. If you tell Anna you love her-"

"No," Kristoff said. He hated how hoarse his voice sounded, how much his eyes burned and his chest hurt. "Just- I need a minute, okay?"

"But-"

"It's been a minute," he snapped.

"Okay."

With his elbows on his knees and the heels of his hands pressed against his eyes, Kristoff couldn't see Olaf, but he could hear the slight crunch of snow as he hopped towards the castle doors. He heard him stop without entering.

"But someday," Olaf said gently, just before he pushed the door inward, "you have to tell her."

"Someday," Kristoff muttered, but not until Olaf had disappeared behind the doors. "But not today."

He looked down at his shabby clothing, his big body. What could a princess ever see in him? With a grim sigh, he rose to his feet. Just knowing that he was about to see her again made his heart beat faster.

It was hopeless._ He_ was hopeless.

So why couldn't he stop hoping?

Suddenly, a gust of cold wind blew the doors open and he heard the sickening crash of ice breaking inside the castle. Without a second's hesitation, he took off running.

"Love is not letting anything hurt Anna."

**~*~ The End ~*~**


End file.
